Email on Evil and Me

This is an email that I sent to my brother who had written about some concerns he had for me. This was originally written in July 2020. 

Glenn,

Here’s your question. Am I happy? And you are asking me that because what you sense in me is telling you that I’m not. So, how shall I answer? 

I think that it would be helpful for me to explain two essential qualities about me. First, I am someone who is given to deep thinking. This is not just a personality trait but also something that I enjoy doing. So, I work at understanding the roots of ideas (where they come from theologically/philosophically) and the fruits of ideas (how they will affect people, especially those who are unaware of those ideas). Second, I am also someone who is emotionally tuned to the evil around me. By that I mean that I will notice what is wrong before I notice what is right. And while there certainly are some pitfalls to avoid here, being aware of the evil can be a strength. A group needs those who are uplifting and encouraging, people who quickly notice the good. But it also needs those who point out the evil and warn about it. That’s me. 

Required Works: The Pursuit of God

We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That's the Gospel. However, while doing good works (things we do) provides absolutely nothing when it comes to why God should save us, doing good works (things we do) is absolutely required of us. We will be evaluated by God who will be looking for such things. 

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Matthew 16:27 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 2 Corinthians 5:10 

One of the (too often neglected) good works that will be expected of us is the pursuit of God. Knowing God and growing in that knowledge is hard work. That is why so many neglect it. But one reason why such should be worked at is that God will be looking for it on the last day, and He will respond to each of us according to how well we were working at this. 

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23–24

Collect for the Week

O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: 

Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; 

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

 Easter Day

Luther on True Faith

If you have a true faith that Christ is your Saviour, then at once you have a gracious God, for faith leads you and opens up God’s heart and will that you should see pure grace and overflowing love. This it is to behold God in faith that you should look upon his fatherly friendly heart, in which there is no anger nor ungraciousness. He who sees God as angry does not see him rightly but only looks upon a curtain, as if a dark cloud had been drawn across his face. 

 Martin Luther

Paul Writing Scripture and Us

When Paul wrote his various teachings to the churches - what he wrote about worship or loving one another or marriage or any of the rest - it was not that the Spirit whispered into his ear what he should write. Paul reasoned from what he knew. Paul’s teachings were the results of his own reflections on Old Testament Scripture. The same is true of the other New Testament writers. (The mysterious thing is how the Spirit superintended this whole process so that the teachings that they wrote were also what God wanted written.) 

Why is this important to note? It establishes that the difference between the writers of the New Testament, and the rest of us is not a difference of kind but of degree. This is not to say that any of us can now write Scripture like they did. But it is to say that we can also derive truths from the Scriptures to believe and to teach. And that is what the Church has been doing and will continue to do. There is much more in Scripture than what we have discovered. 

So, just as the Church was able to establish the truths of the deity of Jesus, the Trinity, justification by grace through faith in Christ and lots more, it will continue to establish truths – doctrines – in the centuries (millennia?) to come. And I suppose we just might be doing this in the age to come.

Collect of the Week

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: 

Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. 

 Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday